"stay at home parents"

[cuddles2007]

I'm a stay at home mom of a 6 month old baby. I hear these people talking all the time that work 40 -50 hrs a week saying to their wives / husbands. i would love to stay home with the kids, because then i wont have to do anything just sit around the house. LOL Its not that easy . Being a stay at home mother or father is HARD. you have to do ALL the house work cook meals , make sure your kids are feed and then take time to do other things And if you have a baby then get up in the middle of the night with the baby . then your day starts at 6am every morning! and doesn't end till about 10 pm. there is a song for the Canadian house wife. its called god bless the Canadian house wife by shedaisy.

[Deanie]

Yes but you don't have to miss those special moments in your childrens' lives like most of us have :(

[beckettjag]

It's true I would love to stay home full time with my daughter, but working a full time job is not easy either I work days the hubby works nights we both have to take care of the laundry and dish's ect in between taking care of our daughter and spending time with her.I work all day and then come home and frantically throw clothes in the wash before taking her to the playground and then getting dinner ready.It's not easy either when you try to save money on daycare,I feel I would get more done if I had all day.

[magoosmomma]

I consider myself both a SAHM and a working parent.. I work eveings and weekends while my husband works days.. I am lucky to be in bed at midnight the nights I have to work and my day starts at 610 am when I have to wake my husband.. Althought we "share" the house work load.. I do most of it.. lol Like beckettjag said.. its not easy when your trying to save money on day care either..

[Flaxie]

Part of me would love to stay home and take care of my children and home full time but the other part of me knows I couldn't do it. I need to work and earn a living. I need the adult interaction and the constant challenges I face each day. I know stay at home parents have challenges and I am not in any way trying to diminish that. I know that by staying home full time I'd go insane! (believe me even tho my kids are all in school now there's more then enough to do in my home/yard etc to keep me busy all day)

[The_Dave]

In my opinion, the hardest part would be looking after the kids. Housework, cooking, laundry, etc are a joke. I love doing all those things and I find nothing hard about them. Organization is the key.

[Mandi]

In my opinion, the hardest part would be looking after the kids. Housework, cooking, laundry, etc are a joke. I love doing all those things and I find nothing hard about them. Organization is the key.
Come do my house work? pretty please? lol , there is nothing in the world I hate doing more than dishes. cooking, vaccuming, laundry, no prob, I HATE dishes.

[rosealee]

I had 4 children & love them, 2 boys & then a set of twins, I thought it was hard staying home with one baby at a time. The twins are now 2 & trust me staying at home may sound nice however, nice is a rare thing. The work never ends, Kitchen opens at 7am for the boys who are almost finished school for the year & the kitchen closes at 11pm once husband has had his snack. Anyone that thinks being a stay at home parent is easy has never done this job!

[magoosmomma]

Come do my house work? pretty please? lol , there is nothing in the world I hate doing more than dishes. cooking, vaccuming, laundry, no prob, I HATE dishes.
LMFAO

Mine too please Dave.. :p

[The_Dave]

magoosmomma and Mandi,
I don't work for free. I don't dust, but I can and I let God dry my dishes.

rosealee, as the kids get older teach them to do housework and dishes, believe me it will be worth it for you and they will thank you later in life for these skills.

[magoosmomma]

Ahhhh never mind.. i work for free AND dust..

[mommyd]

Didn't you read what she said?
She said she hates it when ppl say they would love to stay home with the kids "because then i wont have to do anything just sit around the house"

Lets ALLLL just agree that being a stay at home mom/dad IS HARD
and that being a working mom/dad is also HARD

Being a *parent* is hard!! I wish ppl would stop arguing about which one is -harder-.

However, lets just say for example being a working mom of a disabled and hard to care for child could be -harder- than being a stay at home mom of a "normal" child..
And that being a working mom of a "normal" child could be "easier" than being a stay at home mom to a disabled and hard to care for child.
It just depends on your situation, but in general... Both working, and stay at home parents have difficulties.. some in the same areas, some in different.
And if you don't agree.. then lets just agree to disagree and let the issue rest (i don't just mean on this board, but everywhere in the world)

I am a stay at home mom, and i do not think i have it easier or harder than anyone in general. But i will say that my son at one point had a trach and a feeding tube and yes, i felt that i (and my son) had a harder time of things than others may have. But now he doesn't have those things and i know that i have an easier time of it now than others do.

That's all
- D

[Lillovebug]

I am no mat leave right now, my daughter is 2 1/2 months old. I had to start mat leave early so i started in March had her in May, so now Im able to stay on mat leave until march however there is no way I can stay home much longer the money you get for mat leave is NOTHING, so unfortunately I have to go back to work in Sept :( I would much rather be able to stay home and "complain" about doing housework all day...lol) I envy all you stay at home moms and dads!! Lucky you that you wont miss all your baby's "firsts". My ONLY bonus of me going back to work early is that hubby is a stay at home dad :D so i dont have to worry about having a babysitter raise my daughter and if I cant see her grow then at least her daddy will :) If there was ever a way I could work from home and make a decent income and be able to raise my daughter myself (with hubby of course) then i wouldnt think twice I would do it in a heartbeat :)

[mommyd]

Mat leave differs, it just depends on where you work and how much you make. You both were staying at home? Then, yes, i can understand why you would have to go back to work early. But if that's the case, the important thing is that one of the two of you is with her, doesnt necessarily have to be the mom. But if he doesn't work, then it only makes sense that you would have to.

I am no mat leave right now, my daughter is 2 1/2 months old. I had to start mat leave early so i started in March had her in May, so now Im able to stay on mat leave until march however there is no way I can stay home much longer the money you get for mat leave is NOTHING, so unfortunately I have to go back to work in Sept :( I would much rather be able to stay home and "complain" about doing housework all day...lol) I envy all you stay at home moms and dads!! Lucky you that you wont miss all your baby's "firsts". My ONLY bonus of me going back to work early is that hubby is a stay at home dad :D so i dont have to worry about having a babysitter raise my daughter and if I cant see her grow then at least her daddy will :) If there was ever a way I could work from home and make a decent income and be able to raise my daughter myself (with hubby of course) then i wouldnt think twice I would do it in a heartbeat :)

[Lillovebug]

Well actually he's not worked in 5 years for health reasons. so in my case my mat leave has nothing to do with him being home ,,,,

[mommyd]

i didn't say it did.
i said that it would make sense that you would need to work in a situation such as that. And since in your situation you do need to go back to work early than it's good that your husband is able to stay home with your daughter. Instead of you both having to work in order to make ends meet and needing to send her to Day care, which a lot of families need to do.
I'm sure he'd rather not have the health reasons and be able to work, just clearing up what i was trying to say :)
but yes, it does suck that you need to give up maternity leave.

Well actually he's not worked in 5 years for health reasons. so in my case my mat leave has nothing to do with him being home ,,,,

[Lillovebug]

Sorry Mommyd if my last response came across rude I didnt intend it to i reread it just a min ago and it was pretty rude of course no one knows my situation and i didnt make it very clear. My bad. Sorry again :)

[trinity]

I could never stay home, I would hate it. My mother didn't even leave me with a family member for a weekend until I was almost 5, I would be starkers with 5 years of never going to so much as Fredericton alone or with only adults. I don't like being tied down, and I barely do housework now as it is according to my roommate.

[ASortaSweetart]

First I just want to say mothers in general: you have a hard job. You work hard. Sometimes you work hard at 2 or 3 jobs or "roles" in the home or outside.

The hard part of being a stay at home I would think is the isolation from other adults. If you left the worforce to stay at home it can be a really hard adjustment for some people as their social networks depended on their relationships at work. And mommies need to socialize most of all! It is important for us to not loose that connection we other adults.

Another hard part of being a stay at home mom would be postpartum depression. Isolation does not help depression at all.:(

[mizunderstood]

I have been both a working mom and a stay at home mom, and I can tell u that neither one is easy. Right now I work 6 days a week 10 hrs a day, usually I am gone for 2-4 days at a time. Being away all the time like that is very hard on me and my family. While I am gone I am constantly thinking about my kids, and worrying if they are being taken care of properly, fed, bathed, house cleand etc. So in a way my work suffers a little bit. When I was a stay at home mom I had the pressure of worrying about money, bills, finding a job, etc. As one poster said its not that it is harder being a stay at home mom or dad, it all depends on the person, the family and the situation. I have found a happy ground that seems to be working for us now. I cut my hrs back to 3 days a week and my husband is working full time too. So one of us is always home with the kids and when I do have to work it is not long periods of time like it was before. I am fortunate that I have a job that I can pick and chose my hrs. I would love to stay at home with my kids full time, but sadly our situation cannot handle only 1 income. So for now we both work around each others job. I give all parents respect because being a parent is the hardest and most underpaid profession there is!